Lexar's Muse SSD will be 3.8mm thick at its center

A compatible iPhone could record 4K Apple ProRes video at up to 120fps while connected to a storage drive measuring only 3.8mm at its thickest point. That is the proposition behind Lexar's Muse Ultra-Slim Portable SSD, a solid-state drive due to launch later this year in 512GB and 1TB capacities.

The thinness comes from high-density NAND stacking and a custom ultra-thin printed circuit board, or PCB, architecture. The body tapers from 3.8mm in the middle to just 1mm at the edges. Despite that profile, the reported maximum speeds reach 1,050MB/s for reads and 1,000MB/s for writes.

In practical terms, the Muse is designed to give compatible iPhone users external storage fast enough for demanding ProRes recording without carrying a conventional portable SSD.

The slimmer body comes with a connectivity compromise. Lexar removes the standard USB-C port and replaces it with a proprietary SnapLink cable that attaches magnetically to a pogo-pin connector on the drive's side. Lexar does not specify the magnets' strength, and The Verge notes that the cable could be knocked off accidentally during a file transfer.

Mounting the drive to a phone adds another trade-off. Users recording video through an iPhone need to place the Muse in its included magnetic sleeve before attaching it to the back of the device, adding quite a bit of thickness. The result is a very thin drive at its edges, but one that depends on a dedicated cable and mounting accessory.